MDSW and French Girls

I attended my very first Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival! And I had a blast. There were seven of my knit circle that drove down from Delaware. After waking up at 5am and meeting in Elkton MD at 6:30am, two cars caravaned down to West Friendship, MD for some sheep & wool goodness. Luckily, I "accidentally" didn't give the DBf Gene my GPS and had it in my car. Thank GOODNESS too because I probably never would have found the place.

I found some fantastic skeins of loveliness that I didn't buy... like Tess's 50/50 Wool & Silk blend that was WONDERFUL but a little more than my budget. If the yardage was more I might have bought it. I did end up getting some 50/50 wool/silk from Brook's Farm in Texas. After the solo silk display tried to fall on me, of course. I also found a lovely etsy vendor Made By Ewe with GREAT prices.

I considered for a good long while about picking up a spindle and some gorgeous roving and doing some spinning... and I think I might put it on my wish list for birthday and Christmas. It wasn't in the budget for that weekend, though. I wouldn't have been able to get my solo silk!! Plus the drop spindle (well, trindle, actually) that I wanted was $40... and I know that I can find one for less than that. I also want to try some undyed roving first. I know that I can always find lovely handpainted stuff on etsy later on after I get better. I don't like being bad at things. I picked up knitting the first time in about 15 minutes, which is probably why I've kept up with it for so long.

I haven't been neglecting my projects! I was working on the Louisa from French Girl Knits for a while, but I kept screwing up the lace pattern--and it's the simplest lace pattern! I instead have started working on Wrenna using some lovely Cascade Magnum. I took off for the sleeves and am starting the hip shaping now, so it should be done soon. I did take pictures, so I will post those. I've also finally picked my socks (ok, sock.) up again... and it's starting to look like a sock!! I've finished turning the heel and I'm almost finished the gusset! Soon I'll be working on the foot and the toe. And then i get to start the second one...

After Wrenna.. I have a ton of things I want to do:
* ZickZack Tunic from Interweave Knits Spring 2009 in Cascade Heritage
* Sophia from French Girl Knits in Emu Superwash DK (if I can figure out that wacky seamless side construction with a crochet provisional cast on...)
* Little Blue Sweater from Interweave Knits Fall 2008 in Berroco Cuzco (what I was making my Louisa out of)
* Something out of my KnitPicks worsted High Peruvian Wool. I have about 1100 yards of it. I had a sweater in mind originally, but I think it's kind of boring now... so...

Second Sweater, fini

I've pretty much completed my second sweater, Rusted Root. I haven't taken pictures yet but will soon. I pretty much followed the pattern, but ran into a few mistakes. I had to start over three times. BUT! My third time I started on March 29th and finished on April 13th, so I think that's PRETTY DARN GOOD. Two weeks to finish a sweater? Granted it's short-sleeved, but whatever! Two weeks to finish a sweater!

I LOVE LOVE LOVE the way the yarn knit up (cascade sierra) And I have almost 2 whole skeins left. I bought four because the pattern called for 3 of another yarn that had 215 yds and the cascade only had 191, so to be on the absolute safe side, I got four skeins. And I've barely used the 3rd skein. I basically did the bottom ribbing (about 15 rows), the ribbing along the sleeve (4 rows) and the ribbing along the neckline (4 rows). Maybe I have about 2/3 of the skein left. But that still leaves me with almost 300 yds left! What the heck am I going to make with about 300 yds maybe of worsted weight cotton yarn?

Onto Sweater Two

Now that Feb Lady is finally complete (and once the weather is not rainy and crap, I'll take a picture inside. I took one inside, but the flash made the color all distorted and gross.

I've fallen in love with Zephyr Style's Rusted Root sweater. LOVE. One of my knit girls made it in two weeks (she's freakishly fast and her work is amazing... I'm a little jealous sometimes) and she wore it one Monday night at our meeting coffeehouse. I fell in love immediately and had to make it. I've been reading up on it on ravelry a bit, and I'm really scared of this lace pattern now! I've done a few things in lace now (2 scarves and Feb Lady Sweater) and this will be my first sweater in the round, since Feb Lady is a cardigan. I cast on my sts yetserday on my 24" Denises, and I could not join it in the round to save my life! And I know that I have the correct cord in my interchangeable set.

Maybe I'm joining in the round wrong? I've always flip-flopped the first and last stitch on the needles. How do you knit in the round?? I guess the yarn I chose (Cascade Sierra... it's a pima cotton and merino blend... 80/20) doesn't have much give because it's cotton. I really wanted to start it yesterday... but I couldn't. I get some quality knit time tonight for a few hours, so maybe I can try again... I'm just super excited about this sweater. It's probably bad that I'm slightly a perfectionist when it comes to my knitting... I want everything to be beautiful and look amazing.

I've also fallen in love with the book "French Girl Knits" which is fairly knew. If you haven't checked it out yet, oh my god the sweaters are flipping gorgeous. One of them was featured in the spring interweave knits. I think there are only maybe 4 sweaters in the entire book that I'm not crazy about. I just absolutely love it. And I need it.

February Lady Pictures!!

I finally remembered to take pictures! I have one sleeve completed... and one sleeve 1/3 finished. I've already sewn in my ends.... for some reason I like to do that before I block, because I'm always afraid that the ends are going to catch on something.









Oh yeah, and I forgot that I'm a really realy loose knitter when I bought my size 3 Hiya Hiya 9" sock circulars that can't be returned... so my socks were HUGE when I tried them on last night. So I had to frog them. So I need to get either 0s or 1s. And a new pattern, because other tight knitters have had problems with these socks being huge and slouchy.

Sock Challenge

Now that the end of the February Lady Sweater is in sight (ONLY ONE SLEEVE LEFT! Still no pictures... I'm a slacker) I decided that it was time that I did something with my beautiful skein of Rio de la Plata multicolor sock yarn. At my final FLS class, I had to buy US 6 12" circs for my sleeves...since my Denises don't go that small, and I didn't think of that. While looking for my circs... I saw Hiya Hiyas 9" circs... and decided to splurge a bit. DPNs are fine, but I love circs. Plus my DPNs are 8" long and for socks, that's a bit large. Right now, I'm doing just a basic 3x1 rib sock. I thought tackling lace socks was not a good plan right off the bat. My first sock is 3" long right now. And the pooling is just fine... no weird pooling!

The colorway is fuschia, evergreen, and blue violet. Absolutely gorgeous. I can't wait to wear my first pair of hopefully many socks. And I promised Gene my second pair of socks... we're going to go to my LYS and pick out some sock yarn for him, and a simple pattern off of ravelry. I'm just busting through my resolution to challenge myself this year!

February Lady Update

After frogging the yoke once... and panicking over putting my sleeves on waste yarn... I'm finally almost finished the body. At the moment, it *just* hits the top of my jeans, so I'm going to do probably another 2 repeats of the gull-lace pattern and then start my garter border. My favorite part of this project though is going to be binding off the body, because since I'm using my new Denises I can just change the ends of the needles to a larger size! Whenever I have to switch needle sizes, I always get panicked. But it's so easy with my interchangeables. I love them.

Linda (who is teaching the class, and owns the LYS I go to) suggested putting stitch markers every few multiples of 7 so when you mess up on the lace pattern, you know right away. I've been meticulously counting my stitches every time because I'm terrified of screwing up. The lace pattern is pretty easy...and it's very easy to read, but I'm always paranoid that I'm going to get confused and messed up. The one time I took it to my knitting night on Mondays (yay Presto!) I screwed it up pretty bad. well, not pretty bad... I was able to tink and fix it while still in the same row, but still. I've learned my lesson.

My goal with the sweater was to be finished the body by Saturday, and I really think that I'll be able to accomplish that. My plan is to do the rest of the gull lace pattern tonight, and possibly start the garter border. Maybe by Friday I can bind off! I still need to take pictures of my progress. I took pictures pre-frogging, and decided not to post them since I started over. Maybe tonight I will. Though my camera always messes up the color. I really need to remember to take photos outside without the flash, but it's been so WINDY lately that I'm afraid to.

February Lady Sweater

I've been taking a class at Stitches With Style on the February Lady Sweater... and this will be my first sweater. I took pictures a while ago, but then I frogged the sweater because I misunderstood directions and ended up with 9 extra stitches. I'm probably about 30% done... the yoke is finished (MAN THAT YOKE TOO FOREVER!) and I've been working on the body in the gull-lace pattern. It's really beautiful, and I LOVE the yarn that I picked! Brown Sheep superwash worsted weight in this bright blue called Bon Vivant Blue. I'll have to take pictures again to post.

I'm really glad that I picked this pattern up because it's a lot of fun, and I love the baby pattern that it's based on. Maybe one of these days I'll knit that for someone I know who's having a baby. But I'm also definitely happy that I am taking a class for this. The extra support is much needed and much appreciated. I've never picked up stitches IN MY LIFE so I'm terrified of the sleeves. Right now they're just hanging out on their waste yarn, waiting for me to finish the body and knit away. I think that once I'm finished and I have a sweater that *I* made that's just for me, I'll be really happy.

My little knit-group and I are also organizing a NYC Yarn Crawl for April, which I'm really excited about. I can't wait to review and see all of these yarn stores in Manhattan. I'm most excited about Purl Soho. Last Minute Knitted Gifts is one of my fave books, and I'm very excited to see the store that produced that book. We're actually hiring a limo service to take us up there. That way we won't have to deal with any taxis or subways... and it's actually less per person to rent a limo than to take a train! I think it'll be about the same price if we took a bus, because we'd have to deal with taxi or subway service all day.

So far so good on the new challenges

I've project overloaded again. My ISE7 scarf is completed, just unblocked. And I can't wet block it because it's merino DK and a lace pattern and I'm afraid that wet blocking would mess that up. I'm torn between steam blocking (which I'd have to take the scarf over to the future MIL's house for that because her steamer is much nicer than my iron with steam coming out of it) and using a spray bottle and stretching. I also had this board that would have been GREAT for blocking that the future MIL gave me when I was sewing in my tiny tiny tiny apartment and no space. I haven't sewn anything in so long... I want to bust my machine out and take it for a spin so it doesn't forget how to work. Anyway. I can't find the board. So I've been using my spare bed and just sticking rust-proof pins in that. Whatever. It works just fine. I guess I could use the futon also, since the bed is a pillow top and sometimes things don't lay flat.

My first sweater that was SUPPOSED to be the Hourglass Sweater from Last Minute Knitted Gifts has turned instead into the February Lady Sweater. The yarn I picked is SO PRETTY!! It's Brown Sheep Superwash Worsted in Bon Vivant Blue, which is this bright royal blue. So far I'm on the ENDLESS yoke. I've completed the 3 buttonholes and am about to add the final increases for the sleeves before I start the gull lace pattern. I'm taking a class on the sweater at Stitches with Style in Newark DE, and at my first class I learned 3 new things! I learned how to cable cast-on, how to M1, and how to make a buttonhole. The buttonhole that this pattern uses is awesome. My only wish is that I learned the cable cast-on when I was casting-on so that I could have that nice edge. Linda (the store owner) taught me the cable CO when I needed to re-CO during the buttonholes. I did use the cable CO for Lea's Big Bad Baby Blanket from Stitch N' Bitch. I'm using a bare undyed superwash yarn for that from Knitpicks and it's SUPER soft. I'm so jealous of this unborn sexless baby. Lea is due in July, so I have plenty of time.

I don't know why I'm so addicted to making baby blankets. I guess because it's mostly mindless knitting and it gets such a big wow factor. There's no mistaking that a lot of time was put into it. I did adjust the pattern for the BBBB. Since I'm using a chunky weight instead of a fingering weight, I only CO 100 stitches and I'm using sz 11 instead of sz 9. I tried using 15s because it would go really fast, but the border looked too loose. I like a tighter seed stitch.

And I promise to try REALLY hard to add pictures. I'm really bad at that. I also haven't done the socks yet. I tried casting on with 2s and it was WAY tight, so I may move up to 3s. Also my dpns that I have are big. I wish I had 6" DPNS instead. It would make it a lot easier. I really want the harmony DPN set, but those are 'spensive.

New Challenges

I made a resolution this year to challenge myself. I've already listed some things that I'm going to try. Some of them I've completed, some I'm still working on. I've starting the International Scarf Exchange 7... and so far it's going well. I'm doing my first lace-ish project, I'm working with a new fiber, and I bought far too much of it... so when I'm finished with this project I'm going to make a camisole for myself out of my left over 3 skeins (I bought far too much... I got a little excited because it was 100% merino for $5 a skein.)

I also bought SOCK YARN. I'm all kinds of excited. When I finish the ISE scarf, Olivia's scarf (which I'm almost done, actually... except I'm not crazy about this yarn. I will never buy it again. Lion Brand Microspun. It's DK weight and very stretchy for acrylic, but no matter what my gauge is or what stitch I use IT CURLS LIKE ITS LIFE DEPENDS ON IT and that upsets me), and Brian's scarf if he ever gives me yarn for it I will make socks for myself. Oh boy!!

I also bought a crapton of yarn from knitpicks... lots of bare superwash merino for a baby blanket... and 10 skeins of this wool blend that was on clearance for $1.99 for my first sweater! If only the book I needed to buy (Last Minute Knitted Gifts) wasn't sold out of every Barnes & Noble and Borders in Delaware. Balls.

Time Crunch!

I keep lying to myself and saying that I'm ready for Christmas. As far as buying presents, I am ready. I'm not ready as far as my knitting goes! I still have to finish the back panel of my sister's purse... plus since I have no real pattern for it, the cables I added to the back panel are making it thinner (by almost an inch on each side...) so I'm worried that I won't be able to block it enough to stretch it, but we'll see. And of course I'm using crappy acrylic so there's little stretch to it as is. I still have to stitch that together and line it.

Then I have the baby blanket! I finally started the decrease. I was supposed to get to 190 stitches before I started decreasing, but I got tired and it looked pretty big... so I started decreasing I think around 180. It's close. This one doesn't have to be finished by Christmas, but I'd like to be able to give it to my boss and his wife for Christmas if I can.

We also have a bunch of people retiring this year including our receptionist. I'd love to be able to give her slippers or a quicknit scarf or something but I just don't have the time! Her last day is tomorrow, and I have to work my second job tomorrow! She will be here on Christmas Eve. We always have a big luncheon in the office every year. So maybe if I finish the bag and the blanket this weekend I can throw together something quick? I don't know. We'll see. AND I still only have about 3 inches of Olivia's scarf done. I feel so bad because I haven't been working on that AT ALL. Now that I know that cables are so simple, I might start this scarf over with an actual pattern.

Technique Checklist

Lately I've been trying to challenge myself with my knitting. I did my first ribbed scarf (still waiting for pics on that... I shipped it to Ireland before getting a good picture) and tackled a few other techniques as well.

Cables-check! I tried it with a scarf for a 2 yr old... still working on it (it's only like 3 inches long right now). I'm also doing a purse for my sister that I'm kind of winging, and the back panel is this cute adorable cable pattern that I yoinked from a scarf pattern I found on google called plaited cable scarf I just added five stitches on each end to the garter border since my purse is 55 stitches.

Fair Isle-check! That purse? The front is a quote done in fair isle.

Long-tail CO-check! LOVE this cast on! Super easy... super fast.. very neat looking. Much neater looking than the single knit cast on. In love with this. Must show my sister, because it's so much easier than anything else I've tried.

Reading charts-check! When I tried the fair isle, it was just easier to have a chart, so Sara taught me how to do that. Much less scary than it looks.

Still on my list of techniques:

• intarsia

• sweaters... I have a little baby sweater I might CO for my boss.

• magic loop. everyone on ravelry raves about it.. i'm curious

Anything else I should tackle?

A Knitting Trilogy!????

I finished Unravel Me. And it was lovely! I mean, it was definitely smut... but it was good smut. It was definitely steamy. Especially since the sexcapades were with a soldier. Christie Ridgway also wrote a book called "How to Knit a Wild Bikini" which I didn't look up anything on that, but in the back of "Unravel Me" was a chapter from her next book called "Dirty, Sexy Knitting" about the same characters! I was a little excited. I happen to be a sucker for book series, so I must get "How to Knit a Wild Bikini" and "Dirty, Sexy Knitting!" Needs must!

I had my first home knitting gathering this weekend.. and it was fairly successful, despite the fact that everyone that I invited was a no-show. All of the people Sara invited were there though. We had a good time knitting and being chatty kathys. There's this nasty cold running through work, and everyone I invited was from work... so they were all sick, which was a bummer. I even invited (gasp!) a crocheter. It's all right though...nobody's perfect. :)

I started my boss's baby blanket on Saturday, and FINALLY finished Gene's scarf. It's finally length-approved. I figured if it was taller than me, then it's gotta be long enough. I still haven't received yarn from the people who told me that they wanted me to make stuff. So right now the only thing I have on needles is the baby blanket. I *should* start Olivia's scarf. I also need to get a pattern from Sara for these cabled slippers that looked really cute. They would make great additions to Christmas gifts. I could probably get away with using the mass amounts of acrylic yarn that I have... maybe get a few other giganto skeins of red heart and mix colors. They look like they go really quickly... so I think I could make a few pairs. I just need to learn cabling. Bah.

Holy project list, Batman!

How did I end up with like a bajillion projects to do? I still haven't finished Gene's scarf, even though it's almost done... and he wants a non-Waldo hat. So I bought new yarn for that, and my own 16" US8 circulars so Sara can have hers back. Then my friends Brian and Winter discovered my knitting abilities and asked if I would make them a scarf if they sent yarn. Brian saw some the other day he thought would be fun, so I told him to pick one up. THEN... my boss is having a baby in March (a little girl, his first biological child. He has two stepsons) so I'm making her a baby blanket. I just picked up Bernat self striping baby blanket yarn... and I'm all kinds of excited about that. The picture is the free pattern that actually came on the yarn. That's the pattern I usually do when I make blankets with LionBrand HomeSpun, but I wanted to do something different. I hope the stripes come out all right!

I *still* have Olivia's scarf to do, plus I wanted to maybe make something for myself, but apparently I'm not allowed to do any personal knitting.

So to recap... I have

(1) unfinished garter-stitch scarf for Gene
(1) unstarted cabled scarf for Olivia (she's only like two... so it isn't big... I just want to try cabling and I want to start small)
(2) scarfs of an undetermined pattern
(1) plain ol' hat for Gene (without Waldo stripes and pompom)
(1) baby blanket for my boss (and I'm using US8s for that... so it may take a while)

Good thing I'm hosting a knitting party on Saturday!! So far, the guest list is up to 7 definites and 4 maybes. And two of these lovely ladies have never knitted before, so it should be fun! I may start the baby blanket this weekend... that's going to take me the longest. Maybe I can finish Gene's scarf before Saturday...

New literary genre?

I've always been a huge fan of romance novels... they're a great escape. When I was in college and had a really bad day, my best friend and I would go over to Giant (usually around 1am or so) and read the backs of all the cheesy romance novels and usually buy whichever one appeals to us. Me is usually steaminess. My friend usually picks up intrigue...and it always turns out to be a crime novel masquerading as a romance novel. In my literary travels, I've come to discover my favorite is historical romance novels. I like contemporary, but something about a Scotsman in a kilt circa 1700 really gets me going.

I recently discovered there's a whole 'nother section of literature I was completely unaware of--knitting novels. My mother came across one when she was looking for something new to read and picked it up for me (I'm getting it this weekend when I see her) and just yesterday she found a different one. Today while at Target getting my lunch (California Pizza Kitchen Pizza for One-delish. It's awesome.) I wandered over to their novels and found: Unravel Me by Christie Ridgway. Since I just bought it all of 15 minutes ago, I haven't read it yet. I'm a fast reader, but I'm not magical. The novel is set in California in a hip LYS on the beach. I'm intrigued... and I'll probably finish reading it by tomorrow night.

Now that I have discovered knitting literature (knit lit) I may have a new favorite genre in romance novels. I'll have to let you know what I think about this one and the new one I'm getting on Saturday! I can't think of the titles at the moment, but I will let you know. And if you've read some knit lit before and have some recommendations--bring 'em on!

Waldo pictures!

I'm remembering to post pictures! I tried to just post a picture of Waldo wearing his hat, but unfortunately I'm in the way, so you get to see me as Carmen Sandiego as well.

The knitting of the Waldo hat was not as scary as I thought, but I should have continued the red a little above the ribbing. I really like knitting in stockinette in the round!! That's fun! And switching to dpns was also not quite as terrifying as I anticipated. I expected to call Sara in a panic because I dropped every single stitch, but I managed to survive. And if the hat wasn't obnoxious colors with an obnoxious pompom on it, Gene would probably wear it on a regular basis. I'm highly considering embroidering a Phillies "P" on it in red and taking off the pom. I definitely like making hats though.. and now that I have US8 dpns, I should get 16" US8 circulars. I bought 29" by accident, but Sara lent me her 16".

I'm having a get together with a few friends (some of whom have never knitted ever) over to my house for a knitting extravaganza. My friend's wife wants to learn, and she recently embedded needles she tried to teach herself with in the wall (or so she tells me). My other friend Jenny is a quilter and wants to learn how to knit, my little sister actually taught me to knit, and then Sara is coming and bringing some avid knitters with her. I think I'm going to tackle cables this time. I keep saying that I'm going to do it, and I have two fun patterns that I want to try (and really pretty teal virgin lambs wool I want to use!) so hopefully next weekend will go smoothly.

Halloween Knitting

After much negotiation, Gene and I finally came up with a good idea for Halloween. We are going as "People who are hard to find." Gene will be Waldo, and I will be Carmen SanDiego. But because Waldo's outfit is so, um, specific..it's a bit challenging to find. So, I am currently making a Waldo hat.

It's my first experiment with circulars... and first experiment with poms. Hopefully it's a successful experiment. So far, on my first row using the circulars I dropped the final stitch. Luckily, my friend Sara (who taught me how to use circulars) was there and found it. So far so good. I found this great pattern on ravlery for a "plain knit hat." it has a ribbed border of about 2.5", which I'm doing in red, and then stockinette in white for the rest of the hat. I think it's going to be good. I think. I'm worried about two things... I'm worried about bringing in the white, and I'm worried about having to switch from circulars to dpns for the end. It's apparently easier to do it that way? I've never used circulars OR dpns before... so it's a bit terrifying for me. But hey, it's a non-retangular garment.. so it's a step in the right direction. And it's nice and small and fast. Not as fast as my two hour capelet...but whatevs.

Check and check!

I'm awesome. I finished Colleen's scarf (it's a little shorter than I would have liked, but it's long enough. I just like super long scarves) AND I finished my little capelet/shawl whatever from my Rowan book! It only covers the shoulders, but that's all it's meant to do. And even though I used 19mm instead of 20mm, I think it's okay. The only thing I need to do is block it and sew the cute adorable button on it. I also have to block Colleen's scarf....the ribs are all squishy, so it looks SUPER thin.

I'll post pictures of both (pre and post blocking, hopefully) a bit later. I didn't have time last night or this morning to take pictures. Plus Col's scarf was finished in the doctor's office waiting room...where they FORGOT ABOUT ME. I sat there twenty minutes after my appointment, until I went up to the desk and said "Um, excuse me? Did they forget about me?" and another 10 minutes later, the PA came and got me. Gr.

Yarn Search

Because of the newest tropical whatever developing in the ocean on the East Coast down by Haiti, the wedding I'm going to by the Jersey shore this weekend is going to be cold and yucky. Luckily, I have this cute adorable pattern in this Rowan Biggy Print book I borrowed from my sister for this little shawl that would be adorable with my dress. The problem? I need Rowan Biggy Print yarn... and the normal gauge for that is using US 36s. Every "super chunky weight" yarn I've come across thus far would look dumb if I used 36s.

There are three specialty yarn stores remotely close to me... Wool Gathering, A Garden of Yarn, and Stitches With Style. A Garden of Yarn is the closest to me where I am at this moment. When I'm home, Stitches With Style is closer. I'm hoping that A Garden of Yarn either A. carries Rowan yarn or B. has something chunky enough...and black... that I can use it and not have it look dumb. I saw someone who used this pattern on ravelry and instead of using a brooch or oversized pin to close it, they used ribbon...which is a great idea, and I think I'm going to do that.

I don't have a shawl or anything that can be used to somewhat formalesque occasions where a coat would look tacky... so hopefully I'll be able to finish this. If I do, it will be my first non-scarf or blanket! I'm excited.

New Patterns...wee!!

I was visiting my mom and my sister this weekend, and I looked at my sister's stash. Mine is sad. Hers is cute... because a good friend of hers had a store (well, her mom did. My sister is only 17) called Unraveled, and it was this cute boutique-y yarn store that I LOVED when I first started knitting. Well, it closed... and they have all this yarn that they can't get rid of, so my sister took some. It's super cute.

She also had these Rowan books that use super chunky yarn, my new favorite weight, and the sweaters in them are super super cute and look like things that aren't so scary. I think I mayhaps do one...or seven... so I *borrowed* the books from my sister so that I could write down the patterns and give them back to her. The one book (Rowan Bigger Picture featuring Big Wool & Biggy Print Over Twenty Designs by Kim Hargreaves) is awesome. I'm pretty sure I like 85% of the patterns. The other one I really really like two patterns, and that's about it. But it makes knitting sweaters seem less scary and somewhat doable. I hope when I start doing sweaters, it doesn't suck.

I really do think it's time to start building the stash though. I just buy yarn when I feel like starting the project...I never buy it for a future project. My feeling is that I'll forget what the project is. Last week Michael's was having a sale on Lion Brand Wool-Ease yarn, which I'm hoping is similar to Rowan's Biggy Print since I think Rowan is hard to find in the US. I may be wrong.

Knitting Newbie

Ok, not really. I've been knitting for about five or six years. My 12 year old sister taught me how to knit... and she's almost 18 now. I've only ever knit glorified squares. Scarves. Baby blankets. That's it. My first blanket attempt (which is pretty sad...) I made a bunch of scarves basically and mattress-stitched them together. Maybe one of these days I'll do another afghan that's an actual afghan and not a bunch of scarf rejects sewn together.

I have a few confessions to make. Even though I've been knitting for five years... I've only ever done a garter stitch. I know HOW to do other stitches... I've just been scared of purling. and TERRIFIED of cabling. Oh my god it frightens me. But... I'm trying. I've also never ever knitted in the round... nor have I used double ended needles, let alone multipe sized needles on one project. Currently... I'm making my first ribbed scarf. It's coming out all right so far.. I messed up the first few rows... I accidentally did a seed stitch... but i'm making it like a border. It's actually giving it a bit of stability, so I didn't feel the need to start over. I'm using Lion Brand (my absolute fave yarn brand!) Micro-spun in this bright coral pink. And when it's all finished... I'm shipping it out to Ireland where my best friend now lives.

This blog is basically going to be my attempts at knitting bigger projects. My hope is by blogging about it... I'll stay motivated. Things on my list so far: a cabled bag (yikes!), a pretty lace-y scarf for my friend's daughter, and my first sweater (possibly involving knitting in the round...we'll see how ambitious I feel).

I've already taken the first two steps in adventurous projects: I subscribed to a fun knitting mag I like (2 years... big commitment, I know.. but that's a lot of patterns!), and I requested to join ravelry! Once I get that all set up... I might MAYBE possibly post my name for other ravlery users.